Westport
in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Thursday, December 29, 2011
photos/EverythingWestport.com
Quick
Article Index . . .
Town
Hall Annex murals scheduled to go.
Back Eddy Polar Bear Plunge
smashes record.
|
Town Hall Annex murals scheduled to go. However, replacing
the poor lighting on the second floor would remedy the situation. EverythingWestport.com Friday, December 30, 2011 photos/EverythingWestport.com
The select board voted unanimously to authorize
removing the murals after receiving a letter signed by 13 Annex employees. Community Preservation Committee Co-chairman
Warren Messier made the request of the selectmen a few months ago, citing
Annex employees who said the murals "made the hallway too dark,"
and "wanted the walls to be returned to their original color." Inset: mural on the south wall. In a letter to selectmen, annex workers noted
that the murals were "dark in nature" and that painting over them
"would enhance the very dim lighting on the second floor, which has been
a long-standing issue of poor visibility." "These murals have been on display for over
16 years, and the artistic talent is appreciated; however, we feel the
historic building is not an appropriate place for a permanent
installation," the letter said. "Painting over the murals would allow the
historic Milton E. Earl School/Town Hall Annex to appear as a historic
building should and provide a professional appearance that would best
represent the Town of Westport." In fact, the dimness of the second floor is
primarily due to poor lighting, a situation that Messier said "he would
like to correct" and is investigating ways to accomplish the task. Is it just time for the murals to go? That seems to be the case, but it is not
unwarranted. Many well-know contemporary and abstract expressionist artists
paint their work directly onto
interior museum walls, anticipating they will be painted over at the
end of the exhibition.. The murals were painted by six students from Fall
River's Diman Regional Vocational-Technical High
School. The murals are signed by students: J. Alberto, L. Proulx,
C. Miranda, J. Kiendra, J. Moreira,
and H. Borges. Selectman James Coyne, who initially had
questioned the painting over of the murals, said he had not been aware of the
building's early history as a school. The Annex employees had suggested that
photographs of the murals could be taken and displayed there or in Town Hall
to document the students' work. Messier and Community Preservation Committee
Co-Chairwoman Elizabeth Collins said the Westport Historical Commission had
stated that the murals were not of historical significance. Messier said the building is undergoing extensive
restoration with funds from the Community Preservation Act, and included
floor repair and painting of the exterior. Funds from CPC are also paying for the removal of
lead paint from the building and replacement of handicapped access ramps to
make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Messier said last week that he did not know when
the removal of the murals would begin because the Sherriff's office, which
will do the painting, already has a two-year backlog of work. EverythingWestport.com took extensive, hi-quality photographs of the murals
on December 30, 2011, and has made them available to Messier for reproduction
and display at the Annex.
Above: Mural on the north
side of the west wall.
Above: Mural on the south
side of the west wall. Back Eddy Polar Bear Plunge smashes
record. EverythingWestport.com Sunday, January 01, 2012 Click here to see 87
high-resolution photos. Need Adobe Flash to view album? Click here!
Above: Kurvin
Li, Eric Dugan, Do Kim, Nick Mailloux and Molly McGreavy take the plunge together off the Back Eddy
floating dock. The UMass students, polar bear wannabes all, are enjoying
their winter break. Plunging
into 2012! The Back Eddy smashed their Polar Bear turnout
record, but further down the street attendance was off at the Penguin Plunge,
an annual event since 1975. Read about the 2012 Westport Penguin Plunge
with video and photos.
While most of us were sleeping off a late
night of New Year's Eve partying, those more hardy were breaking records at
the Back Eddy Polar Bear Plunge. Hundreds took the traditional jump, warmed
by balmy 51 degree air, to get a free, deliciously-prepared Back Eddy brunch.
The gratis meal prompted over 240 plungers, accompanied by another 160 paying
bystanders, to take the big one into the 45 degree water of the Westport
Harbor. "It's refreshing!" exclaimed
Stacy Goes (above) of Westport after her jump. "Holy @#&$, this is crazy!"
yelled another female jumper as she flew through the air. "We had a great day," Back Eddy
general manager Sal Liotta said. "It was a
little nuts. We served over 400 brunch meals. We had wanted to limit the
Plunge to 150 jumpers, but we got overwhelmed." Liotta had
flirted with jumping himself, but only briefly. "No time, it was too
busy," he said.
Above: Rebecca Oddsund watched from a safe distance as her husband, son
and family friends took a leap of faith into the Westport River. "We
came from Acton, Lexington and Winchester just to take the plunge," a
smiling Mrs. Oddsund said. The assemblage of eight
was the largest to take a group plunge. Thousands throughout New England took the
plunge, but no other human polar or penguin plunge is as dramatic as the Back
Eddy, where for a few moments each jumper has center stage all to themselves. By 10:45 a.m. there were already over 100
hopeful jumpers waiting at the Back Eddy's front door to register for a
chance to plunge for brunch.
The Plunge's record of 138 set in January
2008 was almost doubled, with the promise of a free brunch, warm air and
sunny weather bringing out polar bears and polar bear watchers from all over
the area. "They have
to totally submerge their body," Liotta, said.
"Every hair has to be wet to get a free brunch!" The brunch? Platters of warm breakfast and
barbeque, flatbreads, omelets, chicken fingers, salmon, and well you get the
picture. "Today it was a pretty seamless effort to process all these
jumpers, probably because we lengthened the jumping period from two to three
hours," Liotta said. Each jumper had to sign a registration form and a liability release
to jump. "We now have a excellent system," Liotta
said. "The good weather brought out a lot of jumpers, and many stretched
out their experience with multiple jumps. They were much more relaxed and
took more time to change back into their dry clothes. But in spite of all
that we didn't really experience too many backups." "It was a lot more festive out on the float and the dock, and
more fun for the spectators too, he said." New Year dips
into frigid water dates back to the turn of the 20th century. The Coney Island Polar Bears of New York are reputed to be the oldest
cold-weather swimming club in America, dating to before the turn of the 20th
century. The L Street Brownies (Boston) were officially organized in 1902 and
took their first recorded swim in 1904. The Westport Yacht Club organized their Penguin Plunge and had their first
swim in 1975, according to Jonathon Paull, event
organizer Jumping takes courage, but in warm weather
it's all about how good you look doing it! "This was a Disneyworld experience, and it's usually over so
fast and so quickly. Today they could take a longer time to experience the
jump and be more reflective," Liotta remarked. Many people look forward to this event each year. The day's 50 degree
air, warmer than in previous Plunges, prompted countless jumpers to warm up
in their bathing suits on the dock after jumping, and were in no rush to
change. "It's a bittersweet experience," the good-natured Liotta said. "After all this excitement and a packed
restaurant, we then close for the season. You'd think I'd welcome the time
off, but I'm already planning and looking forward to our first month's
business in 2012." The Back Eddy manager may have met his outer limits, though, in his
annual Polar Bear Plunge. "I don't know how we top this one," he
said. "But we'll figure it out." Left: Sam Welchman,
Sarah Whiston, Zach Blais
and Ken Waltrin, all from Tiverton, take a jump
into the new year. Right:
Courage comes in numbers as these four young women take the plunge.
Back Eddy Polar Bear
Plunge - 2012. Jumpers Elle Gendreau and
Elaina Pavide delight the capacity crowd of cheering
polar bears and polar bear watchers. © 2011 - 2012 Community Events of Westport. All rights
reserved. EverythingWestport.com |
